By John Millea
October 25, 2004

For Jason Kubel, 2004 was a dream season . . . until late October. Kubel, the Twins’ fast-rising outfield prospect, suffered a serious knee injury when he collided with a teammate during an Arizona Fall League game.

“It's a bad deal,” Twins general manager Terry Ryan said. “It's going to be a long ordeal. It's a shame.”

The injuries included extensive ligament damage in his left knee that will require surgery, and it was expected that Kubel would have a lengthy period of rehabilitation and therapy. The swelling in the knee had not subsided enough for surgery to be performed yet. Kubel is expected to be out of action from nine months to a year, but should make a full recovery.

The injury came when he collided with Grand Canyon Rafters teammate Ryan Raburn (Tigers) chasing a fly ball. Early reports were a torn anterior cruciate ligament and damaged meniscus. A complete diagnosis wasn’t expected until surgery was performed.

“We both called for the ball at the same time,” Kubel said. “I tried to stop and planted my leg into the ground. He was trying to slide under me. When I did it, I didn't think it was bad. It hurt, obviously, but I didn't think that there was all kinds of stuff wrong.”

Kubel began the 2004 season playing at Double-A New Britain for the first time, hitting .377-6-29 in 37 games. Then came 90 games at Triple-A Rochester, where he hit .343-16-71 and was named International League rookie of the year and a postseason all-star. After a big league callup, he hit .300-2-7 in 23 games (60 at-bats) and earned a spot on the postseason roster.

Kubel, a career .323/.388/.501 hitter in the minor leagues, was expected to contend for the starting right field job next season. His rapid rise and smooth transition to the major league was expected to give Ryan some payroll flexibility. Jacque Jones is eligible for arbitration; he was paid $4.35 million in 2004.

“Jason was going to be battling for playing time in right field next year,” Ryan said. “We have a decent contingent of outfielders, but he was going to battle.”

One of the beneficiaries of the Kubel situation might be Michael Restovich, who has spent time at Triple-A and the big leagues in each of the last three seasons. The 1997 second-round draft pick will be out of contract options in 2005, so he will be a free agent if he doesn’t make the major league roster in the spring.